Well after an absence of a blade in my life for 2 yrs, i've finally managed to pester my brother in law into letting me at his crashed RRS . So it was duly delivered to my workshop a few weeks ago and i set about assessing what was required . The bike had been up the road and took a whack from the Kerb which wiped out the left crank cover and also a piece of the crankcase , most of the left side bodywork, indicators, peg and footrest hanger and nice little nick in the frame spar and finally a mullered tank . Ho hum........

Fast forward a couple of weeks and i have a replacement 20K engine from a very nice bloke called Tony in Hinckley, cheers fella, which i was able to test in the bike before buying and he threw in the petrol tank for an extra £20, sweet deal . The tank is black with grey rather than the correct maroon for this bike so i hopped onto the bay and found a Bagster tank cover in the correct colours which became mine for £22 .The might of Evilbay also turned up a pair of side panels in the correct colours for £52 , a new clip on for a tenner and a complete left hanger with peg and gear change for £18 . I also found a NOS left seat panel for £9.95 - black but with the wrong graphics, so the plan is to find a top fairing in black and then order a set of repro decals to tie all the panels together again without resorting to painting - fingers crossed . I'd rather run with stock plastics than go down the chinese bodywork route for now .

So i set about cleaning the chassis while the engine was out , got rid of all the chain oil muck and road grime , gave the new engine a degrease and fitted into place yesterday , next up will be refitting the carbs and then i'll set about rubbing down the stock downpipes and giving them some fresh paint and probably some heat wrap before fitting along with the cooling system.

This paint scheme is my next fav to the RWB classic , then closely followed by the Urban tiger .....I remember seeing it in the flesh at Grantham Honda back in 95 when they came out and lusting after it, i had a CBR1000FL in RWB at that time......

As for the frame ....... i reckon it'll be flatted back smooth and covered with Harris's finest carbon "look at me, i've been up the road" covers . I've done mirror polishing before, ***ing job, on a fighter and as soon as it was done i started cleaning it and never stopped ...... not again .

Well, ahem, after a slight pause , things are getting back on track now .

I've turned the world upside down trying to find the correct top fairing to no avail ........... but i got lucky and found a complete set of original bodywork including tank but in another colour scheme, i'm looking forward to it arriving tomorrow . Here's the pic i have of it fitted to another bike ...

All i have left to do now is sort some new tyres, get the wheels powder coated , fit new steering head bearings and a new chain + sprox kit and we're good for the MOT i think .

The engine is now all plumbed in and running very sweet indeed, the wiring has been gone through with every connector checked and lubed, all dash functions and lights have been restored ........... nearly there .

Well, i got finished milking the cows early this morning so i took advantage of the peace and quiet and got stuck into the blade ...

First up was the steering head bearings.......

All nice and straight forward, so i moved onto investigating a small weep i'd noticed coming from the water pump. I suspected the o ring was away but i got a surprise when i took the pump cover off ...

So, i reached for the old engine and opened up it's water pump and we have a nice spare

So that got swapped over and it was then time to try out some of the bodywork that arrived the other day ....

Time for a cuppa and a bacon sarnie now, i'll have a go at fitting the fairing later

Got the fairing mounted up and most of it's done, just the left side indicators to fit but first i need to find the rubber that goes around the hole in the fairing , i have a funny feeling it's disappeared ..... and to obtain a new stalk for the rear one .

Here's some more pics ......

Next up is getting the wheels painted and obtaining some new tyres........oh and a chain .........